COVID-19 Strikes Texas Longhorns Football Program
At the beginning of football season, even as we were approaching Week 1, I wasn't sure the season was even going to happen. All these measures were put into place to help protect students, players, and fans from COVID-19 and universities were told to take it week by week.
Here we are now one week from completing the 2020 football season, and COVID-19 has struck the Texas Longhorns football program. The announcement was made shortly after the coaching staff canceled Sunday's practice.
According to a statement released by the program, three players and two staff members, who traveled with the team to Kansas State on Saturday, tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday. It was then decided that all team activities would be paused and players and coaches were sent home.
How do players that tested positive that soon even travel to the game on Saturday? Those five members of the football program tested negative for the virus on Friday before the team’s travel to Manhattan.
Additional testing will take place today (Monday) and tomorrow to decide whether or not practice can resume for this week. The Longhorns face the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday. The matchup was previously postponed from Nov. 21 to Dec. 12 due to COVID-19 issues within the Jayhawks program.
Ahead of yesterday's announcement, Texas had mostly been able to avoid any coronavirus-related concerns in its locker room this season. The only student-athlete that tested positive all season was volleyball player Morgan O'Brien.
After Saturday's win over Kansas State (69-31), Texas sits 6-3 on the season and is currently ranked #23 in the AP Top 25.